Election legislation roundup: Florida State Legislature

As of June 25, members of the Florida State Legislature, which includes the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida State Senate, have passed seven bills related to election administration since the beginning of the year. Of those seven bills, five have been enacted. This is two more than this point a year ago. Republicans sponsored the five bills. The bills are: 

• FL H0945:  Jupiter Inlet District, Palm Beach County, Rep. John Snyder (R). 
  • As amended, this bill:
    • Establishes that Jupiter Inlet District will continue to be known as such.
    • Outlines the boundaries of Jupiter Inlet District.
    • Provides that the district has power to enter into contracts; levy taxes on property, with certain stipulations; issue bonds, with certain stipulations; exercise eminent domain; acquire land through various methods; maintain and construct channels; construct canals, sediment basins, bridges, highways, docks, wharves, and the like; to collect fees for use of property; and to use, develop, or lease property.
    • Outlines the structure of the governing body, a board with five commissioners, and clarifies that the present commissioners will continue to serve until their terms expire.
    • Establishes that elections for commissioners will be nonpartisan, with numbered seats and staggered four-year terms beginning and ending in the month of January, and held during the general election in even-numbered years.
    • Click the hyperlinked bill number above for more information.

• FL H0031: Partisan Elections for Members of District School Boards, Reps. Webster Barnaby (R), Fabian Basabe (R), Dean Black (R), Randall Fine (R), Mike Giallombardo (R), Thomas Leek (R), Ralph Massullo (R), Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R), Alejandro Rizo (R), Spencer Roach (R), Rick Roth (R), Joel Rudman (R), Michelle Salzman (R), Tyler Sirois (R), and Dana Trabulsy (R).
  • This joint resolution proposes amendments to the Florida Constitution—an amendment to Article IX Section 4 and a new section in Article XII—that would require school board members to be elected in partisan elections beginning in the November 2026 general election and allow for partisan primaries ahead of the 2026 election. This is a legislatively referred constitutional amendment for voters to decide at the 2024 general election.